Agilent Technologies has appointed Samraat ‘Sam’ Raha as senior vice president of strategy and corporate development, reporting to Agilent president and CEO Mike McMullen.

Raha will serve as strategic lead and advisor to the CEO and executive team in developing Agilent’s overall growth strategy, including leading its mergers and acquisitions plans globally.

“Sam shares our vision of the marketplace and knows what it takes to drive new growth,” McMullen said. “He joins us with an impressive portfolio of relevant experience in general and operational management, marketing and strategy that builds on a foundation of life sciences knowledge. He will be an excellent addition to our executive team.”

Raha joins Agilent from Illumina, where he most recently served as vice president of global marketing, responsible for product management, clinical and corporate marketing, marketing operations and strategy. He also led the successful go-to-market strategy and launch of many impactful products, including multiple sequencing systems and consumables.

Prior to his years at Illumina, Raha was vice president and general manager of the genomic assays business unit at Life Technologies, responsible for the TaqMan franchise and next-generation qPCR instruments and solutions. Before that Raha was CEO of Joby, a start-up that has since become a leading seller of camera accessories.

“I am delighted to be returning to Agilent, where I spent several years in my early career,” Raha said. “Agilent clearly has fantastic growth potential. The opportunity to lead its overall growth strategy and build new partnerships to further its success in high-growth markets is truly exciting, and I am eager to begin leading these efforts.”